Gibraltar calling for airport to fall under EU aviation laws

GIBRALTAR - AUGUST 08: Passengers board a flight at Gibraltar International Airport on August 8, 2013 in Gibraltar. David Cameron has spoken with his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, and Mr Rajoy has offered to 'reduce measures' at the Gibraltar border. Tensions between the British and Spanish governments have been raised on issues surrounding the sovereignty of Gibraltar. An increase in Spanish border crossing checks between the Rock and mainland Spain, leading to lengthy queues, is widely considered to be a retaliatory move for the construction of an artificial reef in British waters, which it is claimed has had a negative impact on Spanish fishing vessels in the area. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
(2013 Getty Images)

GIBRALTAR (AP) – Gibraltar's authorities have joined air-travel industry leaders in calling for the small British territory on Spain's southwestern tip to be included in the European Union's laws governing European aviation.

Joseph Garcia, Gibraltar's Civil Aviation Minister, says Saturday that Gibraltar is legally entitled to inclusion "by virtue of our terms of membership of the European Union."

Gibraltar's government maintains that its runway is within the 28-nation EU because it is "a British airport on British territory."

Industry leaders have met in Brussels to try and unblock progress toward continentwide adherence to the bloc's Single European Sky legislation. Spain agreed to Gibraltar's inclusion in 2006 but then reneged on this commitment in 2011.

Spain ceded sovereignty over Gibraltar to Britain in 1713, but has since persistently sought the territory's return.